[arun1100]

I've been to numerous FIAT meets and a few Jawa meets; a meet of Ambassador cars was long elusive. Somehow it never happened though I have several friends who passionately own them.

A group of Ambassador car owners from Bangalore had been thinking of a meet for quite some time. After they had a discussion among themselves, they decided to have a meet on Sunday, the 31st of January. I was invited into this group some time ago and was very glad that I could take part in the upcoming meet. I checked with Karthik (funkykar), he too was excited and wanted to meet up with the other Ambassadors.

Around 5 Ambassadors and a Hindustan 14 met up near Esteem Mall, near the Hebbal Flyover at around 07.30. 2 Ambassadors including my 1960 Mark 1 joined this convoy further ahead at Yelahanka. Owing to the Air show trials, the traffic was unusually high. We all were very lucky to not get into any jams. We sedately drove to hotel Nandi Upachar at Nandi cross after crossing the Bangalore International Airport. This hotel is quite packed always and serves pretty good and delicious breakfast. Undoubtedly, the best hotel in this route. One of the members had made some special arrangement with the hotel to have a dedicated space allotted for our classics. While we exchanged pleasantries, had a good breakfast and sipped some piping hot coffee, the hotel customers admired the beauties. I could see a rising smile and happiness especially with the elderly gentlemen. I was also surprised to see some school going kids know lot of facts about these Ambassadors.

After a sumptuous breakfast, the convoy continued and drove up to Chithravathi Dam, around 100 kms from Bangalore. Owing to some family commitments, funkykar and me had to return home midway. We had quite a journey ourselves. It had been a while since our 1960 Mark 1 stretched its wings. It did triple digit speeds few times and also had a flat while returning.


Participants:
Bhpian Srinand - Hindusthan 14.
Pradeep - Landmaster
Bhpian funkykar and me - Ambassador Mark1
Bhpian ARUN.V - Ambassador Mark2
Bhpian Tonrag - Ambassador Mark2
Suresh - Ambassador Mark2
Mahesh - Ambassador Mark3
Adithya - Ambassador Deluxe

All credit goes to the ones who organized the Meet brilliantly.

Here are some pics of the Ambassadors lined-up at Nandi Upachar.




















On the Hyderabad highway, en-route to Chithravathi Dam.

[arun1100]

Good old Ambassadors cruising on the National Highway on a bright sunny Sunday morning!





















A quick stop. Seen are Tonrag's Mark2 and Srinand's H14.

[arun1100]

Around noon, the group of Ambassadors reached the Chithravathi Dam. Fantastic and memorable drive for sure!!

[arun1100]

Here are some videos of the Meet.

https://youtu.be/AcN5xIwRqQQ

https://youtu.be/WPbjnARRjRk

https://youtu.be/TV0-FAwOH8I

https://youtu.be/sMDFsvJG8-I

https://youtu.be/oR_ATYiJsfI

https://youtu.be/ChwJo0XAr8Q

https://youtu.be/7BR-yEXZ4lQ

Miscellaneous pics of the Meet Day.























Beautiful Mark2 of Bhpian Tonrag!

[Rudra Sen]

Mod note: Thread moved to Vintage Cars & Classics in India > Post-War section. Thanks for sharing.

[anjan_c2007]

A very good beginning. Excellent pictures and videos! Let's hope the numbers add and add. Thanks Arun 1100 for posting.

[RedTerrano]

What an awesome sight. So many lovely ladies who have aged like fine wine. Brought back childhood memories of my grandfather's beloved Amby.

[Aditya]

What a wonderful sight! The good old Amby still has a special place in my heart. I drove one for a very long time. While all the cars look very well maintained, the lone Mark 3 is the one I find most attractive. To me, that was the best looking avatar of the car.

[clementw]

So nice to see the old beauties. Good initiative. Just a doubt are these cars road legal? Will they be allowed any more with the proposed new laws?

[GTO]

Great pics, guys! So good to see Ambassador fans get together for a fun drive. I love the good old "Amby" too and would any day own one over a Premier Padmini. Especially love the ones with the 1.8 ISZ engine under the hood.

Wish Rudra had the chance to join you guys with his Ambassador which looked like this at one time:

Originally Posted by clementw

Will they be allowed any more with the proposed new laws?

Won't be an issue. My post from a related thread:

Originally Posted by GTO

Valid concerns. Couple of thoughts:

- Not every State will follow Delhi-NCR's strictness with banning 10 / 15 year old cars. Remember that India has an extremely low car penetration rate of merely 30 - 40 cars per 1000 citizens (in developed countries, the number is like 800 per 1000 citizens). In India, even 20+ year old cars find utility & a happy 4th owner. Just visit B-towns and rural areas; we see so many 25 year old cars being happily used.

- You might want to consider registering your car at a smaller town's RTO which will be less strict. If & when Mumbai bans 10 - 15 year old cars, my Jeep is safe because it is registered to a home we own in a B-town in the same state. Similarly, I know many people who have registered their cars to their Pawna, Alibagh etc homes. These small villages will NEVER ban old cars. In fact, so many times when I go to Pawna, I see cars running without registration plates!!

- Worst case scenario, park it in your private property and enjoy the piece of art. Heck, a Delhi BHPian had posted of how he loved his Ikon so much that he's kept it parked in his compound and refuses to part with it. I know of some classic car owners who keep their beauties parked at their holiday homes.

[padmrajravi]

That's a great sight. Mark 1 Ambassadors look majestic.

Just posting this to check if anyone in the circle owns an ambassador that is special to me. My grandmother had a Mark 1 ambassador with the number KLD 4739. The silver color butterfly wipers were a grand sight. It was sold to someone in Mysore in the 90s. The last I heard the registration was changed to Karnataka RTO.No news after that. I put in some effort to track it down through the person to whom we had sold it. But nothing came up. Anyway, if someone has this car, I would love to buy it back or at least drive it once.

[sportymonk]

A Big Congratulations for the excellent Initiative. Now I am really repenting in forcing my Dad to sell off his Mark-III Ambassador. Looks like you guys had fun all the way.

[Bibendum90949]

Nice to see the iconic cars all together, thanks for sharing. Here's one from my family album which my sister unearthed recently. Yours truly the smallest one in the picture covering the registration plate. Ambassador means a lot of childhood memories for me.

[RGK]

Excellent sight. I think all are mounted with petrol engines. Very interesting to see the MPH odo working . Do you still get white-walled tyres?.

[Durango Dude]

I was just glancing at the pics if I could see TMC 4324 the car I learnt to drive taught by my dad it had a steering mounted gear shift. Initially, I found it difficult to engage first gear and I used to start of and engage second gear and slip the clutch and drive, my dad used to curse me. Thanks for sharing, brought back memories. My dad bought it for Rs 25000 and sold it for the same amount almost 30 years later, those were the days.